Random Acts of Kindness
by FelgaHelzio96
Summary: Helga and Shannon had their hearts set on buying some shoes. But when Shannon talks to a man waiting for the bus with her, she decides owning a pair of shoes isn't the most important thing in life... and decides to make a good decision to help someone else. ONE-SHOT. Review if you want... :P


**A/N: So I just watched a movie starring the lovely and incredibly talented Saoirse Ronan (My OC Shannon O'Neal's faceclaim) _Violet and Daisy_ and there was this scene with Saoirse at the very end of the movie that gave me these extreme feels. It made me feel ecstatic and I wanted to jump up and down, but at the same time it was one of those scenes that makes you want to cry too. It gave me chills it was such an awesome way to end the movie. **

**Soooo anyways it gave me an idea for another present-day one-shot with my OC Shannon (since Saoirse is her faceclaim). I loved Saoirse in that scene so much that I decided the only way to relax my obsession with this amazing scene is to sort of write my own version of it. I'm picturing Shannon exactly as Saoirse was in this particular scene except her outfit is different and of course the dialogue and entire backstory and plot/chain of events in general will be completely different. This really isn't related to _Violet and Daisy _at all other than the central theme I took from that particular ending scene, which I took to be a voluntary act of kindness... and of course the amazing Saoirse but not really because she was already Shannon's faceclaim even before I watched this movie haha.**

**Sorry for rambling... hope you enjoy! (And yes this IS relevant to Titanic because there are three canon characters not just my OC).**

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><p>18-year-old Shannon O'Neal walked down the bustling streets of downtown Chicago with her best friend, 18-year-old Helga Dahl. They each carried a large shopping bag, as they had just come back from the mall in the Water Tower Place.<p>

Shannon had her long strawberry blonde hair pulled back in a braided ponytail and her bright blue eyes were alert as they darted around, checking for oncoming traffic as they ran across the street. She wore a pair of faded jeans and a periwinkle sweatshirt over her favorite band t-shirt that she'd won at a concert.

Helga had her long light blonde hair down with a turquoise headband and her own bright blue eyes darted every which way as she took in her surroundings. She loved watching the city-life scene. She had on a turquoise skirt and a pink t-shirt from her old soccer team.

"I can't wait to wear these shoes everywhere! That annoying smoothie girl job in the food court was so worth it!" Helga exclaimed.

"I know! These shoes are even more beautiful up close!" Shannon agreed with a dreamy look in her eyes.

"They'll look so good with the dresses we're wearing tonight," Helga said, smiling.

"Oh yeah, definitely," Shannon nodded.

They stopped at the next crosswalk and waited for the light to change. "Do you know where Fabrizio and Tommy are even taking us tonight?" Helga asked with a giddy smile as she twirled around on the street corner.

Shannon bust out giggling. "No, but I do know that you look ridiculous right now," she told her friend.

"You're just jealous that I can do a perfect three sixty twirl without stumbling," Helga smirked.

"Actually, I'm really not," Shannon laughed.

The light changed and they ran onto the next block. "Well, I'm going to go get ready for our big date," Helga said, waving at her friend before skipping off towards the apartment building that her family lived in.

Shannon waved after her. "Bye, see you later!" she called, still laughing. She walked down a few more blocks towards her own family's apartment building, but then her feet started to get sore from walking all day. She noticed a bus stop ahead, and quickly went to sit down. "I'll just wait for the bus to take me the rest of the way," she muttered tiredly, taking off her shoes and rubbing her scorching hot heels.

She pulled out her phone and texted Tommy a picture of her shoes. Just then, a man in a shabby-looking business suit sat down beside her. Shannon noted that he looked incredibly tired and worn out from what she assumed to be a long day at work.

"Long day?" she asked, trying to make conversation.

"You have no idea," the man muttered back, rubbing his face tiredly.

Shannon nodded, clasping her hands in her lap. She tapped her foot and craned her neck to see if the bus was on its way yet. The man had pulled out a beat up brown leather wallet, and was now looking at a picture of a little girl.

"Is that your daughter?" Shannon inquired curiously, nodding towards the picture.

"Yeah," the man replied quietly, looking down at his feet.

"She's adorable." Shannon smiled. "What's her name?" she wanted to know.

"Cora," the man told her.

"How old is she?" Shannon asked.

"Six, but I haven't seen her since she was three," the man replied sadly.

"Aww, if you don't mind me asking, why haven't you seen her for so long?" Shannon pushed.

"It's a long story," the man said shortly.

Shannon craned her neck to check for the bus again. It still wasn't coming. She checked the time on her phone, and she still had another 45 minutes before she had to get ready. "I've got time, this bus is taking forever."

The man looked at her as if she were insane. "You look like a happy enough girl, I don't want to ruin your day," he told her. He slid the picture back in his wallet and then put his wallet back into the pocket of his shabby suit coat.

"No really, I'm curious now," Shannon insisted. She loved talking to different people and finding out what made them tick.

"Well about three years ago, I was laid off from my job. It wasn't a high paying job to start with, so I had to move my wife and our daughter out of our tiny apartment and into this even lower income area on the south side. That wasn't the life I wanted for them, and I knew I'd have to look for work elsewhere. All of the good jobs were close to the heart of downtown, too far and dangerous to walk and too expensive for public transportation. I didn't want to stir things up for poor little Cora any more than they already were by making them live in some shitty hotel room with me, so I left in the middle of the night one night and simply left a note. My wife Lauren was so angry that she told me not to bother coming back...I tried a few months ago but she called the police on me. She doesn't care why I left, she insists I abandoned them. Now I can't even visit my daughter," the man explained sadly, looking down at his feet again.

Shannon noticed tears welling in his warm amber colored eyes, and even though she didn't know him, her heart broke for him. "Oh, wow, I'm so sorry to hear that. It must be awful not being able to see your daughter, you seem to love her so much," she mused, awkwardly rubbing her hands together.

The man nodded and sniffled, wiping his face on the sleeve of his ratty coat. "Yeah, I really do love her more than anything in this whole world. I remember the last thing she said was she was talking about how much she wanted a new teddy bear. Her old one was all beat up as it was given to us second-hand by one of her cousins. I saw some teddy bears in the window at the toy store a few blocks from here, but they were a hundred bucks... there's no way I could afford that," he told her.

"Was it one of those giant fluffy ones?" Shannon asked as her eyes lit up in realization.

"Yeah, those were the ones," the man replied sadly.

Just then, the bus screeched to a halt in front of their stop, and the doors opened. "You know what, I changed my mind, I think I'll walk after all," Shannon decided, a sudden idea popping into her head. "I'm Shannon O'Neal, by the way, it was nice talking to you Mr..." she trailed off, her hand half-extended for him to shake.

The man smiled and shook her hand. "Cartmell. Bert Cartmell, and thanks for listening... not many people would've cared," he said, stepping onto the bus.

Shannon watched as the bus sped off down the busy street. She let out a heavy sigh and looked down at her shopping bag with her shoes inside, before walking back towards the Water Tower Place.

She went back to the shoes store, and somewhat reluctantly, returned them for her money back. As hard as she'd worked for the shoes, she knew the right thing to do was to track down little Cora Cartmell and buy her the fluffiest teddy bear in the window, if only to bring a glimpse of joy into the poor child's life.

After leaving the mall, she stopped at the toy store and bought the hundred dollar teddy bear, and then managed to catch a cab to take her to the south side of Chicago. It let her off near a playground, and a positive feeling washed over her, saying that she would run into Cora there.

Sure enough, she glanced to her left, and noticed a little girl sitting on the swings out of the corner of her eye. The little girl had brown hair and wore a faded pink princess sweatshirt and teal sweatpants with grass and dirt stains on them.

"Excuse me, are you Cora?" Shannon asked softly, approaching the small girl.

"Yeah," the girl replied shyly, kicking her feet in the dirt to stop the swing from moving.

"My name is Shannon. I know your daddy and he told me how much you wanted a teddy bear when you were little," Shannon told her, handing her the giant fluffy bear.

Cora's eyes lit up in delight and she hugged the bear tightly. "I haven't seen my daddy since I was really little, but he still remembered I wanted a teddy!" she exclaimed happily.

Shannon smiled at the look of pure joy in the small girl's light brown eyes. "He also said that he loves you very much. Enjoy your teddy bear," she said, waving as she left the playground. She looked back just once to see Cora softly stroking the bear's fluffy coat, feeling satisfied with her good deed for the day. Even if it had cost her the shoes she'd so desperately wanted.

Just as she was walking out of an alleyway, a familiar voice yelled her name, and she spun around to see her boyfriend with his arms crossed. "What the hell are you doing down here? Even during the day it isn't a good idea to be walking through alleyways on the south side of Chicago," Tommy scolded.

"I'm fine, I was very careful," Shannon insisted. "What are you doing here anyways?" she asked him.

"My friend Stan likes the bar a few blocks that way, so I joined him for a few quick shots and I'm on my way back to get ready for tonight," Tommy told her.

"Oh, okay," Shannon nodded.

"So why are you down here? What happened to the shoes you texted me a picture of?" Tommy asked.

"Well I went with Helga to pick out our shoes and I was walking back home, but my feet got tired so I stopped to wait for the bus. I met this guy who told me that he hasn't seen his little daughter in three years because his wife is mad at him for leaving to find a job downtown. He told me how she'd really wanted a teddy bear, so I took the shoes back...it was awful but I did it... and I bought this guy's daughter a teddy bear. He'd said they lived down here and I guess it was a happy coincidence that the cab dropped me off at the exact playground this girl was at," Shannon explained.

"So you returned the shoes you've been obsessing over for months to buy a teddy bear for a stranger?" Tommy asked in disbelief. "Damn, you're amazing...that was so awesome of you to do that." He grinned and kissed the top of hear head.

"Helga's going to kill me, isn't she?" Shannon asked, laughing.

"Actually, perhaps not," Tommy said, brushing a loose strand of her long strawberry blonde hair out of her eyes.

"No?" Shannon was confused. "She's going to be pissed that our shoes don't match."

"Yes but you _will _be wearing your matching shoes. It just so happens that I made a little bit of extra money this week and I bought you the shoes this morning to give you when I picked you up, but when you texted me the picture, I was planning on returning them after meeting Stan at the bar. But, it just so happens I ran into you first. Here," Tommy handed her another bag.

"SHUT UP! I LOVE YOU!" Shannon screamed, jumping into his arms and kissing him.

"When you do good, good things happen to you." Tommy grinned, kissing her back.

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><p>What did you guys think? I didn't write this particular piece expecting a tone of reviews... it was more for my own satisfaction since I love that movie scene so much...but I'd love to hear your feedback if anyone really likes this! :)<p> 


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